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Several backcountry volunteer fire departments are balking at new contracts with the county that require firefighters to take a physical exam, which many in leadership positions acknowledged they would not pass, according to a published report.
Last year, the County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to bring several of the volunteer departments in the unincorporated parts of the region under the newly formed San Diego County Fire Authority.
The $15 million plan included a provision to cover the volunteers' workers compensation insurance costs, which meant firefighters would have to take a medical exam. Now, at least five volunteer fire agencies are refusing to sign the contracts because of the requirement, reports the North County Times.
Gil Turrentine, 73, is the fire chief of the San Pasqual Volunteer Fire Department, one of the departments declining to sign the contract. He said many longtime volunteers, including his assistant fire chief, are refusing to take the physical because they believe they will not pass the exam because of high blood pressure, weight and other problems.
Last year, the County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to bring several of the volunteer departments in the unincorporated parts of the region under the newly formed San Diego County Fire Authority.
The $15 million plan included a provision to cover the volunteers' workers compensation insurance costs, which meant firefighters would have to take a medical exam. Now, at least five volunteer fire agencies are refusing to sign the contracts because of the requirement, reports the North County Times.
Gil Turrentine, 73, is the fire chief of the San Pasqual Volunteer Fire Department, one of the departments declining to sign the contract. He said many longtime volunteers, including his assistant fire chief, are refusing to take the physical because they believe they will not pass the exam because of high blood pressure, weight and other problems.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Rulli Jr. on
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True dat Damnthing
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Permalink Reply by Chad Furr on
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Hate to do this but you are 100% right DT. OUr podunk vol FD is about to start mandating annual physicals for all members who are active. AM gonna be courious how many of us will still be left after this though. TCSS
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Permalink Reply by Padre Pete on
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Jay, Help me out here. If the people holding out were to take the physical and fail it, what would change? Wouldnt they be the same unhealthy people doing the same thing they've always done without the benefit of the county workers comp plan, which they have never had anyway? Does the fact that they are holding out, for personal reasons, compromise the other members eligibility and access to that coverage? Historicaly, it seems whenever we have failed to set standards which might serve our own best interest, "Big Brother" has come down with a mandate telling us "This is how you will do it now". I suspect that some federal fitness mandate might be forthcoming. It will be a tough nut for some of those major contributors we have who are just plain not healthy. Damn government. Gosh I miss riding on the tailboard. Keep The Faith.
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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
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I'm just throwing out a topic here. It does seem ironic though that the county didn't care about the fitness of 'volunteers' until they had to pay.
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Permalink Reply by Jake Fireman on
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Ironic? More typical.
I used to work in East San Diego County as a reserve firefighter. This is a good thing they are attempting. There were some...well.. scary departments out there to say the least. As with all things in the fire service there does need to be some type of "guideline". Believe me I miss the "ol days" as much as anybody, but the guidelines that are being proposed here are NOT out of line.
In my dept. every year ALL firefighters (officers still optional until 2011) have to at least walk thru the PAT and then have baseline vitals taken. Some complain about that ...
Whaddaya gonna do DT????? lol
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Permalink Reply by Dustin J. Millis on
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AMEN BROTHER!!!!
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Cant agree with DT more!!!
Let me put a little disclaimer here ( I'm not talking about all smalltown f.d's in this next paragraph... so dont get pissed if your on a small dept.)
Alot of your smalltown fire dept's have members that treat it more as a social club. A way to stand out in their community. Maybe that used to fly in years past but not anymore. We used to have some guys on my dept. that would have refused to take any sort of physical exam because they all would have failed. We have a few members that are still on that probably wouldnt pass. They are all good guys, great to be around... The fact is though, I would never make entry with any of them. Even though they may have the knowledge and experience, their body isnt fit to be doing something like that. Some of these smaller dept members want the enjoyment of being a member, the friendship, carrying a pager, looking good in the community, etc. They just dont wana work for it.
We as vollies, have the potential to face the same exact conditions as a professional ff on a daily basis. We have no idea when that big one is coming. My pager could go off right now for a fully involved structure fire with entrapment........ okay it didnt lol. But you get my point. If we have the same potential to fight fire as professinals, we must act like professinals and be held to the same standards!!!!
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Permalink Reply by DUST on
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I agree that every fire department should have both medical physicals and a basic physical exam. I don't agree with departments that use BMI (Bad Measurement Index) since it has proven to be inaccurate, classifying people with higher than average amounts of muscle as overweight and people with less than average muscle mass as healthy.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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We are volunteer and yes we DO have to pass an annual physical....I guess they would rather have dead Firefighters than address the real issues.....Paul
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Here is a thought. Now that there is a large chunk of change for the LODD benefit. I would bet they would argue whole heartedly for the $$$ without the physical though...
Years ago the fire service got nothing unless you planned for your own life insurance, so the physical exam was not considered important... but now everyone, v, pc or paid get the same. So IMO you should be held accountable to the same physicals as others do. Many will argue, "we are all the same" or "same training" regardless of the status but I guess this shows that is not reality, as many professionals are forced to retire early due to medical conditions but not others?
As I have said before in other threads... I don't care what your status or title is, NOT everybody can or should be allowed to be an active responding firefighter. Tired of hearing about LODD from heart attack and the guy was 30/40/50/60/70/80 years old, who in reality just sped up the process of having "the big one" due to the industrial athlete physical demands and the cardiac stress thrusted upon a "time bomb" that was waiting to happen anyway.
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Permalink Reply by John Schander on
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Don'tknow what all the fuss is about, I have an annual Physical, Ekg, and blood work done. I do this because of my family history and to make sure to catch any problems early. I don't do it because it is mandated by the FD, I do it because I want to be around as long as possible. Physicals are not a bad thing, and if you catch a problem early enough it can be taken care of so you can continue to fight fires.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa Eastwood on
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Our department has been requiring physicals for the volunteers for about 10 years now. So far, the physicals have helped some of the members discover some pretty serious help problems that are now fixed but would have been left untouched until something bad happened to them. I think physicals are a good thing.
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